Total votes at elections 1832 to 1979

The total number of votes cast at British general elections has obviously increased as the size of the electorate has increased. The 1832 Reform Act did something to increase the size of the electorate but the main expansion in the Nineteenth Century came with the 1867 Reform Act for urban Britain to be followed by the same in 1884 for rural Britain. In 1918, the Representation of the People Actallowed women aged 30 or over (with property qualifications) to vote for the first time and this did a great deal to increase the overall size of the electorate.